Posted By BananaHop17 on 3/23/2016 8:45 PM

Hello friends.

I’m currently in the process of litter training a very mischievous 4 month old female rabbit. 

When I first came home from the pet store, I set up a cage for Dahlia with 1-2 inches of bedding (I believe it’s wood shavings?) in the bottom as the bedding package recommended. 

In the corner of her cage, I set up a litter box with CritterLitter in the bottom. Although Dahlia uses the litterbox, she also used all of her cage as a litterbox (including her food dish). I ended up switching to a food bin that hangs on the wall so she can’t sit/poop in it, and she is now trained to used a water bottle.

I did some reading around, and some people had suggested to others that they remove bedding from their bunnies cages during litter training as it can confuse them about what is/isn’t a litterbox. 

Since removing the bedding, the area surround the cage is much tidier (no more shavings all over the floor or being tracked around by the rabbit) and she seems to use the litterbox for all her peeing (poop is still an issue). It is also easier to clean the cage out without the bedding as I can scoop up the poop and throw it away without having to sift it through bedding.

Now I’m trying to consider whether or not to ever put the bedding back into her cage. Do bunnies need it for comfort? She seems to mostly sleep in her litterbox (for some odd reason).

That’s exactly right, and it already looks like her habits improved once you cleared out the bedding.  You don’t need to use it again. It’s just a waste of your money and more work for you to clean it up. It can cause respiratory irritations for some rabbits also. 

It’s not unusual for buns to sleep in their litter box. 

Did you place the container of hay over the litter box so she can only get to it when she’s in the box? This will help get most of the poop in the box. Its also not unusual to have a few around the cage, especially when they’re young. Some will improve with that, some not. It’s pretty easy to deal with their little bunny poops though.